WUNRN
UNCTAD - United Nations Conference
on Trade & Development
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IGTN - International Gender &
Trade Network - http://www.igtn.org/
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IGTN is a network of feminist gender specialists who provide technical information on gender and trade issues to women's groups, NGOs, social movements and governments. IGTN acts as a political catalyst to enlarge the space for a critical feminist perspective and global action on trade and globalization issues. _____________________________________________________________ |
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WIWIDE Newsletter,
Number 4 , 2008
WIDE Newsletter Number 4 - 2008
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IGTN Responds to UNCTAD XII:
More Progress Is Needed in Macro-Economic Policy That Actually Works for Women
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By Lidia Urbaniak
It is key to strengthen the role of the UN Committee on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) and other UN bodies, although the UNCTAD held in Accra,
Ghana, from 20 to 25 April has not produced much news.
The need for a
stronger UNCTAD
On women and trade, IGTN/NETRIGHT prepared a set of recommendations for
the Civil Society Forum of the
UNCTAD, in which it stressed that the chaos in global markets is a reflection
of long-term structural and cyclical problems whose harshest effects are felt
by ordinary people, especially the poor in both developing and developed
economies. Poor women will continue to be the shock absorbers to failed
economic and social policies. Both in rich and poor countries alike, poor women
are the overworked, undernourished and disempowered default providers of care
and survival. The statement highlighted that women cannot continue to help to
sustain an economic system that is content with band aiding failed financial
and product market apparatus that only results in rampant accumulation and
greed.
UNCTAD and the UN system offer the following strengths
and opportunities which are absent in other multilateral, regional and
bilateral settings:
- Diversification of where development discussions can take place, thereby taking global governance beyond the coherence framework of the WB, IMF, WTO and the OECD.
- The UN Human Rights Council and its Rapporteurs on transnational corporations, food security, trade, and finances generate a unique body of research and discussion. Their work must inform, enliven and revitalise the Doha Development Agenda and the imagination of global social movements.
- The UNCTAD and ECOSOC Reform, the Development Cooperation Forum and the Monterrey Consensus processes can serve as important venues for addressing accountability issues on a range of development concerns.
- UNCTAD is uniquely placed to continue the critical analysis of current economic policies and develop alternative political frameworks that better facilitate and embody the goals of equitable and socially oriented development.
--
UNCTAD’s improved engagement with civil
society is commendable and helps foster collaboration among countries and
actors.
Therefore, according to the statement, the triad of
UNCTAD, UNHRC and the ECOSOC-DCF/FFD must be strengthened as a counterbalance
to the WTO/IMF/WB/OECD and myriad regional and bilateral trade agreements,
which follow neo-liberal economic thinking.
Some impressions from UNCTAD
The first report by IGTN, however, on this year’s meeting expressed
disappointment at the discussions: “behind the façade of a formal, seemingly
very important and high-sounding first roundtable at UNCTAD XII, entitled Globalization, development and poverty
reduction: their social and gender dimensions, the key messages and
political pomposity of speakers were simply appalling because they were nothing
but ‘more of the same’.”
The roundtable, while acknowledging the shortcomings of globalisation
and the need for greater attention to gender and social concerns, failed to
meaningfully address women’s fundamental critique of the dominance of the
neo-liberal model, particularly the failure to address the social reproductive
and redistributive concerns raised by women and the poor.
Speakers from the UN and multilateral institutions
spoke triumphantly, affirming the need for growth while at the same time
raising the alarm on the need to translate growth into social gains for the
poor and excluded. The moderator, Mr. Danny Leipziger, a vice-president of
the World Bank, declared, “There is no alternative to globalisation.” One other
panellist raised the need for long-term growth but questioned its quality and
ended by asking if small and medium-sized enterprises for women are one way
forward. Building upon this, the Executive Director of the International Trade
Centre UNCTAD/WTO, Ms. Patricia R. Francis,
called for definitive ways to connect women and villages to the global markets,
while a representative of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
emphasised the need for gender indicators as important in this regard.
The UN Assistant Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
the Advancement of Women, Ms. Rachel Mayanja, reminded that data cast doubt on global growth as the way to
address poverty. Furthermore, she stated that if global growth is to address
poverty it must be accompanied with decent work, educational opportunities and
health care for all, adequate economic value for women’s labour, and
meaningfully addressing the persistent problem of violence against women.
The speakers from developed countries – Finland, Portugal and the
Netherlands – expressed forceful support for gender equality goals and seemed
to have gone farther in their statements than the speakers from the UN. The
President of Finland focused on the need to balance competition with social
justice and proposed the UN as the site of global debates on how this balance
could be achieved. The Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation reinforced
this position by asserting that distribution, human security and gender must be
at the top of the global economic agenda because not doing so might make it too
late to realise the Millennium Development Goals. Moreover, Portugal’s
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation lauded
gender mainstreaming as the correct policy and noted that there is global
consensus on the need to promote women in economic development.
Finally, there was the lone voice from developing countries – where the
vast majority of poor women are actually found. At this stage, it was no longer
a surprise to find out that this lone voice from the South was a male. Sri
Lanka’s Minister for Export Development and International Trade supported the
singular focus on women as drivers of growth, capping this with a provocative
question on whether there was in fact any need for a women’s quota in politics.
To read
the full IGTN/NETRIGHT statement, please go to: http://www.wide-network.org/index.jsp?id=372
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